MS. BUCHAN: When the President arrives in Cleveland, he will be met by Shirley Moore, Freedom Corps volunteer. She is 67, and she is a
volunteer with the RSVP -- Retired and Senior Volunteer program, which
is part of the Senior Corps. And she volunteers at a local elementary
school helping kindergartners and first-graders improve their reading
skills.

From the Cleveland airport the President will go to Richfield,
Ohio, where he will meet with -- or have a Labor Day event with the
International Union of Operating Engineers. That union was founded in
1896. It has 400,000 members and it's the 12th largest union in the
AFL-CIO. It represents operating engineers and stationary engineers,
as well as nurses and other health industry workers. In Ohio, the
Local 18 is a statewide construction local union with 16,000 members,
and Local 20 is a statewide engineer local union with 2,000 members.
And the President will be making remarks on the economy and the
importance of American workers to our economy; in particular, the
manufacturing sector will be a focus.

With that I will take your questions.

Q Claire, we've lost 2.7 million jobs in the last three
years. There's a lot of anxiety, a lot of pain. What words of
encouragement is the President going to offer today to those people, to
Americans feeling anxious?

MS. BUCHAN: Well, a couple points on that, Scott. As you know,
the President is always concerned when any American who wants to find a
job can't find one, and who is looking for a job can't find a job,
which is why he has worked so hard to create an environment where we
create jobs, where our economy is growing stronger so that it is
growing fast enough to create the number of jobs we need.

The economy began to slow in 2000, and the President took
aggressive and bold action to put forward two major tax relief packages
and growth packages, which has helped get the economy growing. And
there are signs that the economy is improving. But the President still
isn't satisfied, and he'll touch on all of those elements in his
remarks today.

Q Is there anything specific that the President will offer to
help speed things along?

MS. BUCHAN: Well, the President will talk about those initiatives
that we have already enacted to help American workers, as well as items
that remain on the table like liability reform, like energy
legislation, the initiative to help people who are having a difficult
time finding work -- he'll highlight that. And he'll also have at
least one new item that he will mention in his remarks today.

Q What's that? Is it a good one?

MS. BUCHAN: It will be at least one new thing for you to report
on.

Q Of those 2.7 million jobs, almost all were in the
manufacturing sector. Is that why we're going to Ohio? Because that's
one of the states that's been so hard-hit, and of course, was a close
state in 2000?

MS. BUCHAN: Well, the President has, as I said, always been concerned about American workers looking for jobs, and this is the
third Labor Day that he has traveled to meet with American workers and
to talk about their important contributions to the economy. And this
continues his ongoing effort to help American workers --

Q -- what about Ohio?

MS. BUCHAN: This is an opportunity for the President to meet with
the International Operating Engineers Union.

Q What about the fact that this is sort of the unofficial
kickoff of the political season and Ohio is certainly a critical state
when it comes to the next election?

MS. BUCHAN: Well, the President is focused on the business at
hand. He's focused on governing. As you've heard him say, there will
come a time for politics, but right now the President is focusing on
his job, leading Americans, and he's focused on helping create jobs for
American workers.

Q You may not have this, but do you have any reason why he's
addressing this union specifically? Last year he talked to steel
workers and talked about some of the issues they were facing. Is there
anything about these specific workers and this union that he -- is the
reason why he's visiting them? There may not be, it may just be an
audience that was there, but --

MS. BUCHAN: They're American workers and they represent much of
what is going on in the economy, where workers who are looking for jobs
are having a difficult time, or workers who are working are
contributing to the vitality of the American economy that the President
talks about. You often hear him talk about the resilience of the
American economy. Much of that is thanks to our workers, who have
increased productivity and who have risen to the challenge. So he'll
highlight that, as well.

Q Did they invite him to speak today?

MS, BUCHAN: I don't know quite how the logistics of this worked
out.

Q Did the White House invite Congressman Kucinich?

MS. BUCHAN: I don't know who all was invited. We typically invite
the member in the district that the event is being held in.

Q I think that's a Democrat. Do you happen to know whether
that person was invited?

MS. BUCHAN: I already said I don't know if that person was
invited.

Q There's a new tape broadcast on al Jazeera. As I
understand it, it reports to have Saddam denying involvement in last
week's bombing. Do you know anything about the veracity of that tape
or the claim?

MS. BUCHAN: I don't have anything on that, Steve. You might touch
base with the coalition provisional authority who is working with the
Iraqi governing council -- they may have updates for you.

Q Have tactics changed on the ground in combatting this kind
of activity, which is much different than what you saw with the
original attacks on troops in the beginning?

MS. BUCHAN: For the specifics on tactics you should be talking to
the commanders on the ground or the coalition provisional authority.
We continue to be very committed to working with the Iraqis and with
the Iraqi governing council and with our international coalition to
help secure Iraq, to bring about a more peaceful and better future for
the Iraqi people.

Q Is the President growing any more concerned, though, given
that this is the third car bomb that's gone off? I mean, things are
really getting seemingly increasingly worse over there.

MS. BUCHAN: The President is resolved to work to bring a better
future for the Iraqi people. He has always said that this would be a
-- that it would take considerable effort, and I think if you look back
at his speech on Thursday, the President talked about this being a
long-term effort and a major undertaking, and that continues.

Q There have been bitter complaints from within Iraq that the
Americans haven't allowed Iraqis to provide enough security for
themselves, Americans haven't provided that security either. Do you
know, has that complaint risen to the President's attention? What do
you make of it?

MS. BUCHAN: I'm sorry, I don't understand what you're --

Q The Iraqis complain that Americans aren't letting Iraqis
protect themselves, nor are Americans providing the kind of security
that might have prevented this bombing. Is there anything to that?

MS. BUCHAN: One, we are working very closely with the Iraqi people
to help them bring about a more stable future for themselves. Already
38,000 Iraqis have been hired as police officers; 12,000 Iraqis will be
trained for the Iraqi army in the next year. There are 1,400 Iraqis
who have stepped forward as volunteers in the Iraqi civil defense,
We're stepping up raids, we're working with some 30 coalition partners
on the ground in Iraq. So we're working very hard with both the Iraqi
people and with the international coalition.